NBA

Report: Jeremy Lin Is A Big Baby (Maybe)

Like a jilted lover who wasn’t so much jilted as told he could see other people and come back whenever he wanted, no questions asked, Jeremy Lin is rumored to be “frosty” towards the Knicks for not offering him a contract before the Houston Rockets did. And to that we must say, Jeremy, stop being a baby.

The original report came courtesy of Mitch Lawrence at the New York Daily News, who said Lin was feeling slighted that the Knicks waited to match an offer sheet, rather than make their own pitch to the man/myth/legend they helped create:

“He was surprised that the Knicks didn’t make the first move,’’ a league source said. “They know they’ve got to mend some fences with him because he believes what the Rockets have told him, that the Knicks weren’t as interested as they are.’’

Now, is this report true? Some are skeptical, considering Lin’s a smart guy (he went to Harvard, you know) who knew the Knicks wanted to see how much other teams would pay for him before paying that much themselves (“up to $1 billion,” according to Marc Stein, which was a joke, right?), because this is a business. Just like it was a business decision to hold Lin out of Game 5 of the first round year this year, despite him being at “85 percent.” As Frank Isola pointed out, if Carmelo had been 85 percent, he’d be a go. But with all that money at stake, cooler heads prevailed.

Lin himself addressed the report thusly:

Lol why do u guys believe everything? No quotes from me = probably not true

— Jeremy Lin (@JLin7) July 11, 2012

Probably not true? So… perhaps this is true? Who are we to believe here?

Yes, this could just be a smoke screen set by the media, or the Rockets, or Nets fans, to cause hard feelings between the Knicks and their point guard of the future. But if there’s any truth to this rumor — if Lin sat down for one second and thought “Hm, maybe the Rockets, who cut me well before I got a shot in New York, really do want me more than the Knicks,” then we need to address this problem directly.

Jeremy — you’re a good kid. And you’ve got your whole career ahead of you to feel slighted by uncaring owners, vicious fanbases and cold-hearted media members (New York has all of those things, by the way, if you didn’t know). Coming off a month of good basketball, you’re getting a serious payday. So when you sit down with your future employers (the Knicks) soon, sign that contract right away, put on a big smile, and embrace the world you’ve wanted to be accepted into your whole life. This is the NBA, dude. Don’t be a baby.

Also, you may have to carry Jason Kidd’s golf bag for the next couple of years. It’s a rite of passage. Don’t bitch about that either.

Follow @ericgoldschein